Minn. pastor arrested for sexual assault during ‘ex-gay’ therapy

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Source: raw story

A Minnesota pastor has been arrested for sexually assaulting two gay men while counseling them about their “homosexual tendencies.”

Charging documents released this week indicated that 55-year-old Rev. Ryan J. Muehlhauser was accused of eight felony counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct on at least two men during sessions about how to “escape the gay lifestyle,” according to KARE.

Muehlhauser was a pastor at Lakeside Christian Church in Cambridge, but met the men through Outpost Ministries, which claims it was “formed over 30 years ago to meet the needs of men and women making the decision to break away from gay life.”

The first victim told authorities that Muehlhauser had “blessed” him by cupping his genitals. The pastor required the victim to arouse himself for “spiritual strength” and later instructed the man to get naked and masturbate in front of him, calling it “spiritual guidance.”

Muehlhauser told a second victim that he would “loose everything” if details of the abuse became public.

“To seek comfort and advice and to help address the pain they were experiencing only to have them experience a more horrific type of pain, sadness,” Isanti County Attorney Jeffrey Edblad said.

The alleged abuse began as early as Dec. 31, 2010 and continued until at least Oct. 31, 2012.

“You have a defendant who spends a significant amount of time working with and grooming victims, these are often cases that take place over a period of months and years. They don’t happen in a vacuum,” Edblad explained.

23. Maybe the artificiality of a binary proposition instead of a continuum?

24. artificiality of a binary proposition

Where are all the bi's? I mean it all "straight or gay" these days. I bet most people are bi to some degree or another.

Imagine a line... one end is black: the heterosexuals. They are no doubt a larger set that the other end of the line which is white...the totally gay people. In between is a huge swath of shades of grey... including people who "tried it" once to those who are 50/50, coming from both ends.

26. Three boxes are no more helpful than two, IMHO

Like I tell my wife, "Maybe I'm gay but just haven't met the right guy yet."

I hope I'm not inadvertently offensive here, but I think any person of any gender or orientation can look at another person of any gender and orientation and say, "Hey, now there's an attractive person." I mean, I can surely differentiate between actor Ernest Borgnine and Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps and, in my opinion, Michael Phelps is more sexually desirable in a physical sense. Someone else might think that Ernest Borgnine has a more "masculine" presence and find that to be more attractive. I wouldn't be interested in sex with either one of them personally, but that doesn't make me blind to whatever may strike me as "attractive" or "unattractive".

A lot of tension seems to come from tangential worrying about "what am I?" according to some classification in "Audubon's Field Guide to the Humans" than finding what they enjoy, perhaps finding someone to enjoy it with, and simply accept being themselves.

Totally IMHO, the "gay/straight" thing strikes me as a broad classification which breaks down when applied in microscopic detail the same way that conceptions of "race" do. There are humans. There are constellations of preferences among humans, the same way there are constellations of "racial characteristics". But obsessing over these things - as applied to some particular individual - is unproductive.

15. Yep. Very typical.

5. get naked and masturbate in front of him, calling it “spiritual guidance.”

I'm sorry.... but that is so absurd, it's almost funny. But I can laugh because I'm a grown man who is not ashamed of his sexuality. The victim was a self-hate victim even before he was duped into going to a pray the gay away scam.

27. I've known two people who were undergoing ex-gay "therapy"

Both were very sad individuals. Their problem wasn't that they were gay, but that they had incredibly poor social skills. They would have been unhappy whether they were gay, straight, or bi, but someone convinced them that they were unhappy because they were gay, and God was punishing them. All the therapy did for them was make them very frustrated sad gay men with worse social skills, because the only place they really fit in was with the ex-gay therapy group that was filled with people like themselves.

9. Well, I guess that is one way to turn someone into an ex-gay n/t

10. I'm SHOCKED, I tell you, SHOCKED!

Honestly, those poor bastards, to be ashamed and looking for something impossible in the first place, and them to be victimized and then intimidated and blamed. I am so proud of them for making this horrible abuse public.